Interview with Wasted Land

WASTED LAND

Interviewed by: Corix

First off! I am really amazed that you guys played this kind of music, are you all Saudi nationals?
Ayman: Yes all of us are Saudi Arabian.

Is there any of you study and grow up to any other open country? Is there anyone still studying? Working? What you guys do for a living?
- Basically, all of us were born and raised in Saudi Arabia and we study here as well, but we travel abroad very often.

- I work as an executive secretary in the authority of civil aviation, Sultan is working as a flight attendance in the Saudi airlines, Ahmed, Tameem and Emad are students.

- Currently we are living in Saudi Arabia.

Who influence you with metal music? And how did you come up with this kind of music? When did you discover metal, by the way?
- Basically metallica was the biggest influence. After listening to several bands we attracted to melodic death metal more than the other genres.

What are those zines, books and literature that you think change the way you think about life?

- I guess Paulo Coehlo , Dan Brown and some arab authors changed the our visions about life.

Is there any bands inspire the existence of Wasted Land? Why you named your band Wasted Land? Is it about your land you are currently staying?
- I can say that Dark Tranquillity , In Flames and Suidakra are our major inspiration.

- About the band name, we inspired the name from a song for Suidakra entitled Wasted Lands and it doesn’t carry any another or indirect indications as many people think.

Pls. tell us what kind of music you are into nowadays? How about zines you are currently reading?
- We are listening to different kinds of music, such as the different styles of rock , metal and folk.

- About zines we read Newsweek, Alsharq alawasat (Local Newspaper) and Terrorizer.

I have checked your website and I found out that you guys joined the battle of the bands? And I have read that you guys are sending demos to big labels. What are your goals as a band? Would you consider your band as an underground?
- Our aim is composing good and strong music to reserve a mass and memorable magnitude in metal scene with respect to satisfy our fans all the time as much as we can.
- Then we are attempting to participate in many gigs in different countries to spread our music and meet different fans and bands and record our albums and hopefully to sign with well known record label.

- Currently we consider ourselves as an underground band because we didn’t sign any contract with any record label and the gigs that we participate in are restricted in few countries in the middle east.

For sure, you know the band S.O.D right? What can you say about their song called “Fuck The Middle East”?
- Obviously, the song reflects an extreme racist trend, also unfair judgment and total ignorant about middle east problems, that’s why this band deals with this matter. Therfore no need to think about them that much.

Mostly people here are still in the traditional way of lifestyle and culture, how did your parents reacted when they saw you wearing metal shirt instead of wearing your traditional clothes like the “tob”? Have you guys encountered any problems with your religious leaders or “Mutawa” regarding your clothes you wear? Your long hair and stuff like that?
- Our parents didn’t object that much about it because they trust us so much and they know the different and the strange appearance doesn’t reflect the real attitude of the person and about Mutawa we didn’t face difficulties with them because our city Jeddah is more open and the citizens are more liberal than the other cities citizens.

We are planning to form a band with my friends here in Riyadh but since we don’t have any equipment like the drums and amps so we look for any rehearsal studio but until now we haven’t found any, where do you guys rehearse not to disturb your neighborhood? And by the way, the sound quality of your recording is really good, where did you record your demo and any of your releases? Is there any recording studio in your place? Or it was just a home recording using some recording softwares? How about rehearsal studio?
- Fortunately the guitarist Ahmed Khoja lives in semi-isolated residence which allow us to practise and rehearse anytime and as much as we want. - About the recording, we are recording by the pc with recording software with respect to our high quality equipment and our music instruments, meanwhile we are recording our upcoming album in studio belongs to professional friends.

How did you guys manage to organize gigs here in Saudi since gigs are prohibited I guess if you do it in a public place right? Unless you do it in basement that Mutawa couldn’t see and hear you are doing some noise right? How about the female audiences because females are not allowed to collaborate with males? How did you feel about this? That you could not express your music and anger without hiding the authority? Have you tried questioning your authority? Have you tried doing some actions like protest to this kind of system?
- To be honest, we are facing a lot of difficulties because of the wrong impression about metal. Therefore we are unable to organize gigs because we need an official approval from the authorities.

I have talked to a Saudi guy, and he said he don’t like the culture, lifestyle etc. because of its traditional way and lots of restrictions like you cant talk to a woman in public, mandatory for a woman to wear “abaya” (for the readers: “abaya” is a long black dress that covers the whole body of a woman from head to foot) women has no freedom and actually he said there’s no freedom at all for everybody, prohibition of alcohols and beers, some websites are blocked etc. etc. that’s why he decided to settle down in other country. For you, did you ever feel the same sentiments like him? What can you say about your country’s culture by the way?
- No we don’t think in this way, because we believe that most of these tradition came from our religion, so it is ok for us.

This question doesn’t mean to criticize your religion because I know you guys are Muslims right? In Metal or in the whole underground thing, religion has no place at all! What can you say about this?
- As long as the music that we do and listen doesn’t conflict with our religion, we feel right about it.

Going to the mosque every “salah” or “prayer time” is mandatory for all the Muslims here, do you guys go to mosque and do salah everyday?
- Yes we do, because we are loyal muslims.

Do you think there will be a possibility that Saudi Arabia will become open like other countries do?
- I don’t think so because of the religious and conservatives trend for the majority.

I have noticed that the Americans and the British are treated special here in your country, they can do whatever they want, like in their compound, they can drink their fave alcohol and beers, can eat pork meat, men and women are open to see each other that even “Mutawa” has nothing to do with them. My question is; How special they are in this country? Why they are treated special than the Arabs here? Why isn’t equal to all since Saudi Arabia has a lots of various nationality?
- We are treating people according to their backgrounds and the environment that they came from and we cant force them to follow our life style, as you know every single person is different and our religion doesn’t force anybody to do anything against his will.

By the way, about the Arab-Israeli conflict, do you think it will reach a lasting peace?
- Who knows, only the days will reveal the answer.

For my last question, will you die just for your country?
Yes, we will victimise our selves for our country if demanded without hesitation.

Alright, brother! Thanx for sharing your thoughts for my readers worldwide, this space is all yours, you can say whatever you wanna say. Maasalama!
- I just want to thank you for this interview and It was a pleasure to have this opportunity to be apart of your zine.

Yours,

Ayman

band contact:
http://www.myspace.com/wastedland